A group of Irish cattle producers experienced first-hand the cutting edge of Australian cattle marketing at Yass’ Southern Eastern Livestock Exchange’s (SELX) weekly cattle sale on Thursday. Hailing from the north-west Ireland county of Sligo, John Cosgrove and his extended family in town for the wedding of John’s son Sean to Canberra girl Sara Hourigan on Saturday.
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“Our saleyards tend to be covered to protect from the wet conditions rather than the sun, but they’re nothing on the scale or technology of SELX,” Mr Cosgrove said. “The numbers (1100) were comfortably more than double than anything we have at home.”
The visitors recognised many of the European breeds among the yarding, and acknowledged the great condition of those on offer given the contrasting environment the cattle are raised in. However, they admitted they would have some challenges if they had been in the market.
“Whilst they were familiar with the format, they admitted they didn’t understand a word the auctioneers were saying,” Mr Bremner said. “I also had to make sure that whilst they were rapidly mastering the art of the ‘Australian bush salute’ (waving flies away), that they didn’t accidentally end up bidding and winning a lot and having to work out how to fit a pen of steers into their luggage for the trip home.”
The historic Valeview shearing shed hosted them next, where Frank and Landon Hodgkinson provided insights into their enterprise and some of the challenges faced in Australian agriculture not so common in Ireland, such as the upcoming bush fire season.
